The History of the Story
Young Frankenstein was a film that was originally released in 1974, and the original screenplay was written by Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder. Wilder joined the likes of Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, and Gene Hackman in the all-star cast, and the film has constantly been ranked by different entities as one of the funniest ever produced.
The film still enjoys a wide following more than 30 years later, and as a result of this continued interest, Brooks decided in early 2006 to begin to adapt the story into an on-stage production. Brooks has said several times that Young Frankenstein was his greatest work, and he collaborated with Thomas Meehan, with whom he partnered on The Producers, to formulate the new script. After completing this process, it was announced that Young Frankenstein tickets will be available for shows to begin in late 2007.
The Plot Summarized
The story is basically a respectful parody of the horror film genre, particularly to the style and substance of horror films produced in the 1930’s. The main character is Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, and he is a renowned lecturer at a medical school. Dr. Frankenstein is very sensitive in regards to his family history, as his grandfather was widely known as a “mad scientist.”
After one of Dr. Frankenstein’s lectures, a solicitor approaches the doctor and tells him that he’s just inherited a large sum of money, and convinces Dr. Frankenstein to travel to Transylvania to assess whether a project the solicitor has in mind is worth the time and effort.
We’d tell you how the story turns out, but there are two reasons why we won’t. First, the story is a timeless classic, and millions of people have already enjoyed this story in many forms. Secondly, you’d be much better served to grab some Young Frankenstein tickets for yourself in order to see the next great Broadway phenomenon.
